Wordsworth Classics

Hey Guys,

A while ago Wordsworth released hundreds of classics, such as Wuthering Heights, as paperbacks and priced them at just £1.99. I remember when I discovered this fantastic offer and was so happy, not only can I buy books that I am studying at school, such as Frankenstein, but can also get hold of classics that would otherwise have cost me a small fortune, especially if I buy them in hardback.

I perhaps haven't taken advantage of this offer enough and only own a few of these classics, however in the future I plan to buy many more. Currently I own The Great Gatsby, Frankenstein and Tender is the Night & The Last Tycoon. It is also worth noting that these books make great presents for book lovers, and I myself have received some of them for birthdays.

The Wordsworth Classics I plan to buy sometime are Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, A Picture of Dorian Gray and Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Buy your own Wordsworth Classics here -  www.amazon.co.uk/wordsworth+classics

Love Holly x

Merry Christmas!

Hey Guys,

It's that time of year again! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, thanks for all of your support throughout the year and we hope you have a lovely day!

Love Holly and Daisy x

E- Evening

Hey Guys,

I had a bit of trouble thinking of a subject for E and was determined not to go with earmuffs, which I think are possibly one of the strangest items of clothing ever invented. Finally after much deliberation I have decided on Evening.
Christmas is drawing ever closer and soon it will be 2015, which really scares me. As the new year turns over I am supposing that many of you will be out partying in the evening so I have picked a few of my favourite evening pieces at the moment.

The below dresses, I think, are fabulous, and I would wear any one of them. I personally am not a big fan of patterned dresses, hence why none are included, however these are also available everywhere, and on the right person can look great!

1. French Connection £70.00

2. Sister Jane £65.00

3. Asos Vintage £65.00

4. Asos £65.00

5. New Look £17.99

I think dark colours work best, especially at this time of year, for evening dress. I think this is the time of year to embrace dark reds, dark greens, black and also silver, to me anything sparkly is totally acceptable at anytime. Below are a few accessories that I have spotted recently, some of which would look great with the dresses above.

1. Asos green heeled shoes £50.00

2. Topshop choker £8.50

3. The WhitePepper blue shoes £85.00

4. Asos glitter purse £35.00

5. Asos hat £20.00

6. Asos clutch bag £18.00

7. New Look £27.99

8. Urban Outfitters ring £8.00

9. ALDO heeled shoes £75.00

My favourite pieces featured here are the French Connection and Sister Jane dresses, although both are unfortunately far out of my price range. I love the pom pom detailing on the latter and I think it would look really cute with the velvet Asos clutch bag. My favourite of the shoes has to be the White Pepper ones, which are super cute, although I could definitely be tempted by the New Look deep red boots.

Love Holly x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,

Radio 1 recently released their 2014 Live Lounge album and it is really great. It is lovely to hear artists live on the radio singing not only their own songs but doing covers of other well known songs.

My favourite two covers on the album are 'Wrecking Ball' by London Grammar and 'Fancy' by Kasabian. The originals of both of these songs are so famous and well done, and yet both London Grammar and Kasabian manage to turn them around and do something wonderful with them. I love both of these covers and there is a strong possibility that I will be going out and buying this album very soon, perhaps with christmas money.
I think it is also worth mentioning that Kasabian have been nominated for eight NME awards, so congratulations to them.

London Grammar - Wrecking Ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcUERyHeNSY

Kasabian - Fancy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVXD4T58mmg

Love Holly x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,
The song I have chosen this week is "Us" by Regina Spektor from 2004. Spektor is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music reflects the anti-folk scene centred on New York.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fczPlmz-Vug

Love Daisy x

October & November Haul

Hey Guys,

I haven't done a haul for a while so I thought I would share with you what I bought in the last few months. October followed my birthday month of September so I had some money from then to spend, here are some of the things I bought.

 

High necked velvet top- Charity Shop £3.29
Black Super High Waisted Joni Jeans- Topshop £36
Black trousers/leggings- Zara £19
Vintage black beaded jacket- Charity Shop £3.99
I had not realised until doing this post how many black clothes I have bought recently! I really love all these pieces of clothing especially the high necked velvet top, which is surprisingly warm. I think black clothes are timeless and I love wearing all black, however much people may judge me for it.

 

My little pony tattoos £3.50, these are so cute, they were an impulse buy and totally worth it!
Panic! At The Disco CD £0.99 - for 99p I couldn't go wrong, this is a great album.
Harry Potter playing cards £0.47 - I love Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban especially, so these cards with scenes from this film are perfect.
Vintage Sunglasses £10 - I bought a pair of these sunglasses, in black, from a vintage shop in York a few years ago but the broke in the summer. I was so glad to find that the shop was still selling them and bought a tortoise shell pair.
Frankenstein AS Study Guide, A-Z Geography, Aspects of British Political History - all from Amazon and all second hand, although I don't remember the prices. These books have all been so useful for my AS levels and look barely used, just a few lines underlined or highlighted.

Kermit Backpack - £2 I tried to save tokens from Cravendale Milk cartons about a year ago to get one of these backpacks, but never saved enough tokens, so I was so happy when I saw this at a Christmas Fair and just had to buy it.
Brown paged sketchbook - CASS Art London £6.50, I was inspired to buy this after meeting artist Dean Kelland at art forum. He let us look at his sketchbooks, in which he had drawn with white pen onto brown paper, it looked awesome.

Love Holly x

D- Dungarees

Hey Guys,

For vintage dungarees Rokit is a fab shop with loads of choice at great prices, normally around £25-£35 a pair. I really love browsing their website as it is full of unique vintage clothing that you won't find anywhere else, each item is 'one of a kind' Here's what Rokit has to say about dungarees....

"The workwear classic as worn by 1940s land girls and 1980s popstars alike are well and truly in vogue again. They have worked their way up the fashion ladder and are now a wardrobe essential. For a laid back look, team denim with a classic Breton, for a period look wear a heritage pair with a pretty short sleeve blouse or go street and accessorise a short pair with a tie dye tee."

http://www.rokit.co.uk/dungarees

My two favourite pairs available on the Rokit website at the moment are...

90s Winnie The Pooh Mid Blue Denim Short Dungarees - £25

90s Green Velvet Long Dungarees - £35

However if you not as weirdly obsessed as I am about vintage and prefer to shop on the high street there are still some great pairs of dungarees that you can get your hands on, for example...

Dungarees - £29.99 H&M
Bib Front Dungarees - £64.99 Superdry (also available on Asos)

I'm sorry I keep going on about her, but Alexa Chung must be mentioned in this post as she is literally the Queen of Dungarees! Alexa has bought dungarees a long way in fashion, making them not just something for babies and toddlers to wear, but a fun alternative to jeans, shorts, dresses and playsuits. She has worn white, black and blue, managing to make each work effortlessly. For summer she dressed down a dungaree dress with a simple black vest top and wedges, and for a more wintery look she combined dark dungarees with a cream shirt, black tights and a fun vintage vanity case.

Dungarees can look good for many occasions, as Alexa proves, as long as you choose the right style for you. I am a strong believer in wearing what you like, regardless of whether it suits you or not, as long as you like it nothing else really matters, so my top tip for dungaree dressing would be to just go for it! If that is no help to you whatsoever I would say start with the dungaree dress as this is probably the style that suits the most people.

I personally live in my dungaree dress which I bought for under £5 in a charity shop in the summer, I love it, it is so comfortable. I also own a pair of light blue long dungarees and these are great for cooler days in summer or just slobbing around in the house. I honestly don't know what I would do without my dungarees and another pair will definitely be featuring on my Christmas list!

Love Holly x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,

The season of Christmas adverts is upon us and one particular advert that has caught my attention is the new Chanel No.5 Perfume advert. It is similar visually to many other perfume adverts but what got me was the song that accompanies the advert. The song is a cover of 'You're The One That I Want' from the film and stage show, Grease. The cover is by Lo-Fang, who has transformed this upbeat sing-along number, making it slow and mysterious.

 

I personally love this cover and I think Lo-Fang is so talented, the song is taken from his debut album 'Blue Film'. The full Chanel film is also directed by Baz Luhrmann who is one of my favourite directors, directing films such as Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby.

'You're The One That I Want' - Lo-Fang

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYluMAO1b7Y

below, the Chanel film:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8asRWe5XNw8

Love Holly x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,

The song I've chosen this week is 'Say it, Just Say it' by The Mowgli's. The Mowgli's are an American alternative rock band from southern California. Thanks to Spotify I've really been loving 'older' songs, so the next few weeks won't consist of newly released songs - however I have been loving 'Blank Space' by Taylor Swift.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRn8Sl6-sRo

Love Daisy x

C - Collars

Hey Guys,

I love clothing with collars, and have done ever since I read Alexa Chung's book, 'It', which introduced me to the style icon, that is Wednesday Addams (a character in 'The Addams Family') . I will forever adore her peter pan collar and plaits combination, which looks stunning, especially with her monochrome wardrobe. I think collared clothing suits just about anyone and is a style that perfect for winter, allowing you to still look smart whilst covering a lot of your skin, keeping it from the cold.

Two examples of collared tops available at the moment are...

Embroidered Collar Tee - £48.00 Topshop

Beaded Blouse - £19.99 H&M

Two examples of collared dresses available at the moment are ...

Short Sleeve Mesh Peak Collar Dress - £14.63 (reduced in sale) Sheinside

Pixie Floral Shirt Dress -  £27.99 Missguided

These are just a few examples to show the versatility of the collared garment, there are thousands of other tops, dresses, coats and jackets available in both high end and high street shops.

Asos have a range of detatchable collars (see link below), this ranges from furry to embellished. So if you have a dress or top you already like but feel is a bit plain, you could add one of these wonderful collars to it, giving it a new lease of life.

www.asos.com/Women/Accessories/Collars

Celebrities often turn to collars for a smart, casual fun look. Here we see them on Alexa Chung, Kiera Knightly, Hailee Steinfield and Emma Watson. The top two favourite celebrity collars appear to be peter pan and embellished. (above photo from www.abbzzw.com)

If you are on a tight budget and don't want to buy a collar, or simply want something more unique, on Pinterest I came across a board about making your own collars (and scarves). Many of these DIYs look easy and great fun and I can't wait to try some of them out!

http://www.pinterest.com/taniamattei/diy-collar-scarf/

I hope you have enjoyed my third post inspired by the alphabet and I hope to complete the next one by late this week, early next week. 

Love Holly x

Song Of The Week

Hey Guys,

'Islands' by The XX is one of my favourite songs and recently I have been listening to it a lot. It is from their debut self titled studio album, it was released in 2009 and is a song about faithfulness in love. The lyrics are clever and I think without music it reads like a poem, it is angelic.

'Islands'   The XX

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PElhV8z7I60

Love Holly x

16 things I wish I knew at 16

Hey Guys,

As a lot of my friends are turning 17, I've been thinking of all the things I would love to have known when I turned 16 so I could enjoy the next year of my life more.

Credit to Polly Vadaz and Signedalice.wordpress.com who gave me inspiration to do this post.

1. First and most important - DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY! There is always going to be those people who judge you, but who cares. School is meant to test you. All those people who take the mic out of the things you like aren't your friends and after year 11/Sixth form you never have to see them again, and you don't necessarily have to talk to them while you're still at school.
2. You'll lose friends - and that's absolutely fine. You'll change and your friends will change and sometimes you won't be able to make each other happy anymore. It's not the end of the world, you'll make new friends who will obviously be better for you; but it's important to remember your friendship didn't fail, it was successful, it just had to stop - which leads nicely onto number 3.
3. Make friends! For God sake stop hanging around with the same people and meet new amazing people. It's obviously nice to have a group of friends that'll always be there for you, but while you're young and while you're surrounded by all these weird and wonderful people you might as well take advantage of them - you'll meet people with different hobbies and passions and you can learn from them, they'll learn things from you and you'll be shaped into a more well rounded person who can appreciate other people's views. 
4. Party. Go outside. While you can, go out, drink and dance. You'll have more fun going out to party's than watching a film. In 20 years you might not have the time to go as often or be able to climb onto a table and dance, but in 20 years time you can still sit on a sofa and watch a film. 
5. Forget about love. At 16 you don't need to be in a relationship, you just need to surround yourself with the people you love. And I don't want to sound too cynical but at 16 you have no idea what it means to be 'in love' - I doubt 30 year olds really know what it means - so stop trying to find your 'true' love, you'll just be disappointed.
6. Just do your work. We all know homework, tests and exams suck but tough, everybody has to do them, it's a part of life. In the long run you'll be grateful that you missed one of your favourite tv shows to get 90% in an exam.
7. You don't know everything. Yes you're smart, yes you do know somethings, but not everything, so learn to shut up.
8. Accept help. No matter how independent you are everybody needs help, so just be grateful there's somebody who cares enough to help you.
9. Relax. You don't need to be busy 24/7. Take a Sunday off, forget about seeing your friends and have some 'me time'.
10. Don't try and please everybody. Don't do something for somebody if it doesn't make you happy, don't let people use you, you're stronger than you think. 
11. Don't let your parents decide for you. It's much easier than you think. They don't always know what is best for you, so if they're forcing you to do something you don't want to do put your foot down. They're not in control of you, no matter how many times they say "you live under my roof, so you follow my rules". 
12. Do something! If there's something you don't like about your body do something about it. If you've fancied somebody for a while do something about it. Don't sit there and feel sorry for yourself.
13. Be spontaneous! Whether that means kissing somebody or running into the sea, if you don't do it then and there you'll probably never do it.
14. Don't regret anything. Every silly, stupid and bad thing you do makes you into a better person. Make mistakes. You'll look back the next day or in a year, and you'll be so happy you did it.
15. Bad things happen. Whether you have to move school, or there's a family crisis you'll have to go through bad things, but they can be made easier if you confide in friends.
16. Everything will change. It's just something you're going to have to deal with, don't try and stop it from happening. 

Well that's that. There are still loads of things I don't know about life and how to grow up but I guess I'll just have to figure things out for myself. 

Love Daisy x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,

The song I have chosen this week is 'You Always Make Me Smile' by Kyle Andrews from his EP 'Kangaroo'. Kyle Andrews, 32, is an American songwriter and performer. I love this song purely for its upbeat tune, which is the reason for many of the songs I've previously posted about, and just in general the really cute lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grnkCPxdTdU

Love Daisy x

B - Black & White

Hey Guys,

Welcome to the second of my Inspiration from the Alphabet posts, we are onto B and I have chosen Black & White.



I have long been a fan Black & White clothing as it looks simple but effortlessly well put together. Monochrome style, whether it be full of pattern or block colours, makes for a timeless look that has been loved for a long time, really beginning with the first 'Little Black Dress' by Coco Chanel.

This dress changed how the world saw black clothing, it was no longer only for mourning. The dress was published in a 1926 edition of Vogue and it was stated that it would become 'a sort of uniform for all women of taste'.

Monochrome had a revival in the 60s, taking over the fashion industry. It was minimalist and very 'mod', perfect for the bold look that the 60s craved. It was in the 60s that Twiggy arose as one of the first international supermodels and Audrey Hepburn filmed Breakfast at Tiffany's in the black Givenchy dress.

Nowadays monochrome is still in and for SS14 was fully revived. I dug out my Vogue SS14 guide and found this double spread on monochrome clothing. It outlines the versatility of the monochrome style, with subtitles such as 'Intelligent Design' and 'Pattern Play'.
The SS14 catwalks were certainly full of black & white, from tailoring to tassels, it was time to brave wearing black in the summer (something I have been known to do anyway).

*click pictures to enlarge*

Kirsten Dunst's printed Dress by Rodarte (featured in the above Vogue article) proves monchrome can be fun by adding a sheer mid-section and asymmetric gridded frills. It is a geometric and stripe patterned quirky design, which she pulls off amazingly well, ruffles certainly don't suit everyone! 

Taylor Swift works this simple monochrome two-piece by J.Mendel beautifully, pairing it with red lips for an elegant red-carpet worthy look. This two-piece uses cut-outs on the shoulders, and a slash up the side of the skirt to enhance what would otherwise be a rather dull outfit. (pictures from Glamour's website)

Monochrome is a style that transcends time, as Karl Lagerfeld once said...
'Black and white always looks modern, whatever that word means'

Love Holly x

Song of the Week

Hey Guys,

'Daffodils' by Charlene Soria is my Song of the Week. This is from Charlene's debut album, 'Moonchild, which was released in 2011; this album featured a bonus track, a cover of The Calling's 'Wherever You Will Go' that was used in Twining's 2011 advert. 'Daffodils' is an enchanting song and I often listen to it when I want to relax after a busy day at school.

'Daffodils'    Charlene Soria

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7QdPJngCOg

Love Holly x

Halloween Treats: Cupcakes

Hey Guys,

This is a follow on from my Halloween Treats: Cookies post. I'm now going to show you how to make some halloween inspired cupcakes. As you have seen on my cookie post things didn't really go to plan so I didn't make these but if things go to plan they could look really cool.

Cupcakes

I'll be making very simple vanilla cupcakes. Again this is a very simple recipe, a similar one to the one I'm using can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cupcakes_93722
The recipe I am using is from M&S 'Easy Baking': Chocolate chip cupcakes

Makes 28                                 My recipe
3oz butter, softened               Butter
3 1/2 oz caster sugar             Caster Sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten           Eggs
2oz chocolate chips             Chocolate chips 
8oz of self raising flour       Flour
1oz cocoa powder               Vanilla Extract
2 tbsp of milk                      Icing Sugar
                                             Food colouring, black 

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius/Gas mark 6
• Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
• Add eggs
• Add little flour if curdling 
• Add milk, fold in chocolate chips
• Sift flour (and cocoa powder) fold into mixture 
• Place in cupcake holders
• BAKE FOR 20 MINUTES

Icing

Make normal runny icing. 

I will telling you how to make a 'mummy' cupcake, but follow the cookie icing recipe to make a pumpkin and eye cupcake.

• Separate the icing into 2 separate bowls
• Add black food colouring to 1 of the bowls
• Pipe a white base on the cupcake
• Then pipe 2 black eyes and a stitched mouth

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

ENJOY!

Love Daisy x

Halloween Treats: Cookies

Hey Guys,

This halloween I am staying at my friends house and I thought it would be nice to make some halloween food.

I'm not the best cook so all of the recipes are very simple, the only interesting thing about them is their icing.

Cookies

I'm making some basic round vanilla cookies which I will hopefully be able to turn into some eyes. There is a simple recipe on this website - http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/607380
but the one I used is a M&S 'easy baking' book: White Chocolate Cookies

You'll soon find out that I don't follow recipes very easily and the first thing I'm going to change it the white chocolate, I'll be adding milk chocolate chips.

Makes 24                                                         My Recipe

4oz butter, softened (extra for greasing)                Butter

4oz soft light brown sugar                                Sugar

1 egg, beaten                                              Egg

9oz of self-raising flour                                   Self-raising flour

4 1/2 oz of white chocolate, chopped                     Chocolate Chips (no measurement)

Salt                                                        Salt

1 3/4 oz of Brazil nuts, chopped                           Vanilla extract  

                                                                    Icing sugar

                                                                   Food colouring (Red, Blue, Orange, Green, Black) 

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius/Gas mark 5
• Cream together butter and sugar
• Add egg
• Sift flour and add salt, stir in chocolate (and nuts) 
• Place evenly sized dough balls on a baking tray 
• BAKE FOR 10-12 MINUTES

Icing

Make normal runny icing

• Separate into different bowls and add colour to individual bowl; remember to save some white
• To pipe these colours use a piping bag or a plastic bag with a hole cut at the bottom

Eyes

• Cover each cookie with a layer of white icing
• In the centre of the cookie with your blue create a small circle
• With the red make thin lines coming from the blue, this will create a blood shot effect
• Finally, either with the black (or with a spare chocolate chip) add a dot in the centre of the blue

Pumpkin (easier)

• Cover the majority of the cookie with orange icing - a smaller circle 
• Add a green line and the top to act as the straw

So as you can see mine really failed, I didn't have many food colour options so I tried my best - but it doesn't really matter as long as they taste nice. 

                         

Hopefully they'll look more like this. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
ENJOY!

Love Daisy x